Boris Johnson knew the rules, broke them and lied about it. That much is not disputed. The former prime minister accepts that statements he made to the Commons about parties in Downing Street during the pandemic were false. He has a police record for attending illegal gatherings. As the prime minister who imposed social restrictions and explained them on television, he cannot plausibly claim to have been ignorant of what constituted a breach.
The slender terrain on which Mr Johnson strives to clear his name is the insistence that other people told him his statements were correct and that he innocently believed them. Testifying to the Commons standards and privileges committee on Wednesday, he said those judging him could not access the truth in his heart, to which he alone had access, and he could report faithfully that it exonerated him.
